‘Heads of State’ movie review: Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Idris Elba, and John Cena go all out to save the world (and partly succeed)

In Heads of State, Priyanka Chopra, Idris Elba, and John Cena do everything but provide an escape from the current geopolitical headwinds. So, if you are looking for respite, look elsewhere. In fact, they put you square in the middle of a fragile international order being puppeteered by an American President Will Derringer (John Cena), with a penchant for acting in films, and a British Prime Minister Sam Clarke (Idris Elba), who runs at midnight in the streets of London donning Arsenal merchandise. 

The film opens with Noel Basset (Priyanka Chopra Jonas), a tough MI6 agent, leading a covert operation in the middle of Spain’s Tomatina festival. However, things quickly go sideways when her team is sabotaged, and we are led to believe that she has died. 

On the other hand, in the land of the free, President Derringer and Prime Minister Clarke’s hostility only grows. After fumbling a press conference, a staff member suggests that they travel on the same flight and make amends during the journey. And obviously, a Russian is going to swoop in to upend their plans — Air Force One is attacked by Viktor Gradov (Paddy Considine), a Russian-born arms dealer turned extremist, and the two gentlemen quickly find themselves stranded in a Belarusian forest. The duo must devise a plan to get out of the woods and reach the NATO conference in Italy in time for an important vote, all while being chased by Gradov’s ruthless killers.

Watching Cena and Elba crawl their way back to civilisation with their larger-than-life personalities in full display makes for an entertaining watch. The sequence featuring the President and the Prime Minister crouched in a truck transporting livestock, with Hang Me, Oh Hang Me playing in the background, is one for the ages. 

John Cena and Idris Elba in ‘Heads of State’
| Photo Credit:
Prime Video

The leads’ slick action sequences cushioned by the acting chops of the supporting cast ground this movie. Basset’s partly funny puns and surprising comeback midway through the film, Derringer’s heart-breaking honesty, and Clarke’s hard shell that eventually cracks help steer the movie to its shore. A special mention to the restrained Sarah Niles, as the top aide to the President, and Jack Quaid, the CIA safe house watchman, who brings brevity to the frame. However, by robbing the audience of a chance to experience this high-octane thriller in theatres, Amazon Studios is doing a big disservice to the craft of action movies.

John Cena and Idris Elba in ‘Heads of State’
| Photo Credit:
Prime Video

There is more than enough fun and frivolity in this summer movie, but its nonchalance (or wilful ignorance?) concerning the current global order left me feeling uncomfortable; it somehow manages to walk a tight rope of self-aware satire and fantastical politicking. 

Championing NATO as “friends who stand up to a bully” is disingenuous and makes one sad at the thought of another movie from the West working as a propaganda vehicle. Ilya Naishuller’s 120-minute-long film, in the end, feels like an attempt to whitewash the international groups and organisations that have caused instability across the developing world.

Heads of State is currently streaming on Prime Video